Does ownership abroad mean I cannot buy in the UK?
Answered on 6 February 2019
I own a house abroad but would like to buy my first home in the UK through shared ownership. Do you think that having a house abroad makes me not eligible?
Owning a Property Abroad
Shared ownership is a system in the UK where you can buy a percentage of a property and pay rent on the remaining portion that you don’t own. Owning a property abroad will not automatically exclude you from shared ownership. However, these schemes are usually only open to households earning less than £60,000 a year who would otherwise be unable to buy.
You may be eligible if you are either a first time buyer, a previous home owner who can't now afford to buy without help (perhaps because you have broken up with your partner), a housing association or council tenant or 'key worker' (a key public sector worker, like a nurse or teacher).
I recommend that you look at the www.direct.gov.uk website and the section on Home ownership schemes under the Home and Community section. This gives you all the information you will require together with the details of who to contact.
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